Top of the Board
by Ayane458
Summary: Discontinued for a rewrite.
1. Chapter 1

Agents Nevada, Kentucky, New Jersey and Illinois watched with amusement as York, Maine and Wyoming got their collective butt kicked by the new girl, 'Agent Texas'. Normally they'd all be worried about how this would affect their own ratings on the board, but today there was an unspoken agreement to stop and smell the roses.

Agent 'Ada' Nevada winced inwardly as Maine punched away Texas's block, but the new recruit merely caught his follow-up and flipped him away, before turning her attention towards York.

"Ada," New Jersey said, "you recognise the fighting style?"

Ada frowned, considering. There was no _specific_ fighting style as far as she could tell. But that kick there was eerily similar to Illinois's, that punch there scarily close to South's, and that jab uncannily like her own.

"No," Ada said finally. "Looks like a mix of different Freelancers' to me."

The others nodded, and went back to watching. Ada's brown hair fell into her face, and she brushed the wayward strands away. The Counsellor didn't seem too bothered about their hair keeping to regulation length, but even he had started to imply that she could use a haircut. Ada disagreed; it barely came halfway down to her shoulders, and it never fell into her bright green eyes in a fight.

From Observation Deck Two, the fight seemed to just get more and more one-sided. Ada heard Kentucky mutter something about hoping FILSS would let her get a copy of the security tapes, brown eyes laughing and blonde hair bobbing. After hearing about the three-on-one fight, they'd raced to the Deck, and had caught the tail end of the stave round.

Kenni hadn't even said anything; she'd just burst out laughing. Everyone knew there was some bad blood between her and Wyoming. Illinois had just shook his head, and made a show of being the oldest and therefore more 'mature' Freelancer in the room. Ada didn't know why he constantly did this; his salt and pepper hair was evidence enough. New Jersey, or Jerry, had just silently given Ada a high five.

"Reckon she'd take on a student?" Kenni asked. "I know she's new and all, but she looks like she could teach us all a thing or two."

"She's freaking Carolina out," Jerry nodded towards Observation Deck One, where Carolina, fully-armoured, could just be seen, pacing nervously. South seemed to be enjoying her discomfort.

A few more blows were dealt out by Texas before hand to hand was over and FILSS's voice announced the point awarded and the beginning of paintball. As the Freelancers on the training floor grabbed their M6G's and loaded them, the blocks used for cover rose from the floor.

"Hey, Ada," Illinois said, "How is this possible? The girl's good, yeah, but she's only got _that_ to her advantage. She should be losing, right?"

Ada quietly sighed. Despite the fact that she was the youngest Freelancer, she was still the highest-rated in the room. Even Illinois, who lorded his age over his much younger friends, still turned to her on fight-related questions.

"It's not three-on-one," Ada replied. "It's one-on-one, then another one-on-one, then another one-on-one. They've only come anywhere close to teamwork once or twice."

"Defeating three groups of one is easier than beating one group of three," Jerry summarised, blue eyes looking abnormally wise.

Most of the good humour had left the room at the thought of what would happen when each of them faced off against the new agent, but no one could stop themselves from laughing when Wyoming and Maine were covered in pink right off the bat. Ada was of the opinion that the fact that all the paint was pink was the Director's way of adding insult to injury.

As York, Maine and Wyoming had their armour turned an unflattering shade of pink, Ada almost unconsciously looked for weaknesses in all of the people on the floor. They all rated above her, Maine only by one, and she could use this to turn that around. Like how Wyoming was particularly bad at dodging _that _attack, and Maine lost the target if she moved too fast. The Counsellor had noted this habit of hers and praised it, even if his praise was little more than a nod and a curt 'good routine to have'.

The team below seemed to make one attempt at teamwork; they jumped over and around the blocks at the same time. Ada couldn't tell if this was teamwork or just York agreeing to run in headfirst like the other two did.

"I'm impressed he didn't get stuck to the wall," Ada said, nodding towards where York had fallen away from a block, pink paint surrounding where he'd been standing. Instead of being stuck to the wall as expected, he merely fell flat on his face.

Each round just added another point to Texas, and the team just seemed to be getting angry. Well, Maine and Wyoming were. York looked frustrated, but that was about it.

It took another round before Ada noticed something wrong.

"What the…?" Jerry muttered.

"Just extra ammo," Illinois waved it off, but he sounded unsure. His Indian accent came back heavily when he was nervous. "Sharing is caring, and all that."

"I think that's –" Ada began, but was cut off. Not with the soft _putt putt_ of the paint being fired, but with the sharp crack of live rounds, "–live ammo."

"Son of a bitch," Kenni shrieked. "Should we help her?"

Texas was not firing back; she was only dodging the bullets that could kill her. She looked pissed.

"I don't think she wants help," Ada said. "Let her do her own thing. In any case, I don't want to get caught in the crossfire."

"She'll be fine," Jerry agreed. "There's no way those idiots would actually kill her."

While Ada disagreed with Jerry on that point, she let it slide.

York tried to get Maine and Wyoming to _back off_, but they ignored him. York changed tactics, and went straight to Texas, who pointed her gun at his head. He raised his hands in the 'I'm harmless' position and said something to her. She seemed to snap something back, and kicked him away before turning her attention to the other two.

Texas kicked Wyoming away and stuck Maine's fist to the wall with a shot of paint when he tried to attack. Wyoming recovered, and fired at Texas, only managing to hit her once, in the forearm. This just seemed to piss her off, and she threw herself into a wild attack, shooting Wyoming repeatedly with her paint-ammo, barely stopping to beat away York and his protests.

Wyoming's armour entered lockdown, and as he started to fall forward she grabbed him by the throat and smashed him halfway through a block.

"Wish I could do that," Kenni murmured, to several replies of 'ditto'.

Texas turned her attention to finishing off York, who was staggering to his feet, and she pulling out the second paint-gun she'd taken from him.

She swung around when Maine freed his fist from the block and hit the block Wyoming was embedded in, sending his teammate flying and the top half of the block towards Texas and York. Texas rolled under the projectile, but York was hit hard and sent straight back to the ground.

Texas came up and shot Maine several times with paint and kicked him into another block. Before his armour went into lockdown and the onlookers could breathe sighs of relief, Ada noticed something in Maine's hand.

"Son of a _bitch_," she cursed, causing her friends to jump.

Maine tossed the grenade, which Texas just leaned away from to dodge. However, it landed right next to York, who was nowhere close to recovering from the block he'd taken in the head. Everyone held their breaths and leaned closer to the glass.

Ada was so focused on York and the grenade, she was confused by the pink forming all over him before she realised Texas was shooting him.

"What the heck?" Kenni snapped. "He could be killed! Why is she _shooting him__**?"**_

The grenade went off, and Ada sent off a quick prayer to whoever was listening.

York flew and hit the ground hard. While his armour was covered in soot, and he was clearly in a lot of pain, she could see no breach in his armour… except for his visor. A medical team, trailed by South, Wash, North and Carolina entered the training room.

When Carolina immediately crouched at York's side while the others kept their distance, Illinois had to mutter, "Knew it."

"Time and place, idiot," Kenni snapped.

"What the… Why did she shoot him?" Jerry asked, concentrating on the black-clad recruit who was being led away by equally black-clad medics.

"Lockdown hardens the armour," Ada reminded him.

"That extra protection probably saved his life," Illinois agreed.

"Should we go down?" Kenni asked.

"No," Ada decided. "We'd just get in the way."

**2**

Ada left the deck, followed by Kenni, Jerry and Illinois. They went their separate ways, and Ada made a beeline to her room. She changed her jeans to trackies; the tank top could stay. She swapped her boots for sneakers and left for a jog.

Inwardly, she seethed. Ada couldn't _believe_ the fight had been allowed to go on for so long. York's injuries were completely preventable. The Director or the Counsellor should have done something.

Her only consolation was that Maine and Wyoming had to be getting chewed out right now.

She rounded a corner and nearly ran straight into Washington.

"Sh –sorry," Ada gasped, skidding to a halt. Wash was still in his armour, but he had taken his helmet off, revealing his brown hair and grey eyes.

"That's fine," he shrugged it off, looking distracted.

"How is he?" Ada asked hesitantly. She knew York had survived, but there was a difference between 'alive' and 'alright'.

"His left eye… those maniacs screwed it up," Wash snapped, but it was not directed at her, not really.

"At least there getting punished, right?" Ada offered. "Restricted to quarters, at least."

"They both got off the hook," Wash told her.

"What?" Ada was sure she'd heard wrong.

"They were praised for their ingenuity and… just look at the board," he sighed, and wandered off. "Later," he mumbled.

"Later," she replied, and continued her jog, now absolutely infuriated. It wasn't even because York had been hurt; she barely even knew him. It was a matter of principle. Wyoming and Maine had used potentially lethal force against a new recruit, and ended up injuring their teammate. And they'd gotten away with it.

She slowed down, deciding to head for the gym. Maybe she'd feel better if she got some kicks at the top of the punching bag; Carolina could do it, and Ada had a similar fighting style.

When she entered the gym she checked the giant wall-mounted screen with the top six Freelancers on it. Maine was now third, Wyoming second, and York had been bumped all the way down to sixth.

The gym was empty, the other Freelancers in their dorms, on missions, on the training floor, or in the infirmary. Ada made her way to the punching bags. They all hung at different heights from the ground, taking into account the varied heights of the Freelancers. She made her way to one she could actually reach the top of without pulling a muscle or jumping.

She started with a few basic punches, moved on to slightly stronger ones, and added a few 'knife-hands' in there. She was dimly aware of a few other Freelancers entering the gym, but she ignored them. She kicked; left to the groin, right to the gut, three lefts to the head. She grunted in satisfaction as her foot connected solidly with the top of the punching bag.

She backed off, realising she could really use some water and cursing herself for being so impulsive she forgot something so simple. She could use a towel, too. She breathed deeply for a moment, and then turned to leave for her room. She felt a tap on the shoulder and turned to see Jerry offering a water bottle to her. She smiled her thanks and took it gladly.

"What did the punching bag ever do to you?" he asked.

"It's a punching bag," Ada replied, before actually looking at the object in question. It was half-collapsed in on itself. "It's a cheap punching bag."

Jerry shook his head and left her with the water, leaving for the bench press. The Freelancer's gym had everything, most of it in the one room. A pool was in the adjacent chamber.

Jerry was only one of the Freelancers who had walked in; North and South were sparring, way too evenly matched for her to see who was winning; CT at a treadmill; Oklahoma who, like her, had an appreciation for actual martial arts, was doing his katas in an open space towards the edge of the gym.

And Maine, at a punching bag strung up way higher than the one she had vacated.

She dropped the water bottle next to Jerry's bag, ignoring his warning look as she stormed towards Maine. He had changed out of his armour, which was lucky for her. If it ended in a fight, and let's be honest, _when_ it ended in a fight, there's no way she could beat him in his armour without hers.

The match with Texas showed as he turned towards her. He had bruises all over and one reddy-brown eye was looking a little swollen. He grabbed a towel, mussed up his mop of black hair even more, and glared at the much smaller Freelancer.

"What do you want?" he growled. That's was all Maine ever really did: growl.

"What the H-E-double tooth picks was that in training?" she snapped.

North and South were watching, as was Jerry. Oklahoma didn't spare them a glance. CT didn't stop running, but that was probably more due to not wanting to fly off the treadmill than lack of interest.

"It's pronounced _hell_," he growled. "And I was trying to beat an opponent."

"With live ammo?"

"Improvisation," he grumbled.

"You could have killed your teammate!" Ada snapped. Oklahoma had finally turned his head towards them, and CT had turned off the treadmill to get a steadier view on what was going on.

"He was in the way," Maine growled back. He was easily a foot and a half taller than Ada, probably more. He was using all of that extra height to try and intimidate her, but Ada was used to being shorter than her opponents; he'd have to do worse.

"Common sense, Maine; when your teammate is _anywhere near_ the person you're chucking a grenade at, _don't chuck the goddam grenade_," Ada snarled. "It will never end well."

North looked ready to try and break up the potential fight, but South held him back. Jerry was unsure of what to do, but evidently decided to stay away until Ada wanted his help. CT and Oklahoma just stared.

Apparently Maine couldn't think of a decent comeback for that, so he swung a fist at her instead.

**3**

It was a pretty bad punch; Texas had messed him up. Ada caught his wrist and pulled him past her, and then kicked his back, using his momentum to help him into the wall.

Maine turned back, and struck out again. She ducked under it, but his next blow to her chest sent her staggering. She recovered before he could follow through, and kicked him in the knee. Not hard enough to seriously injure, just hard enough to cause him to stumble.

While his head was a little lower, she punched him in the bridge of his nose and his forehead. He dropped, but came back up with a hit to her stomach as she tried to jump kick him.

Ada was sent sprawling, landing a few metres away. She rolled to a fighting stance and waited for him to charge.

He did, and she jumped, kicking him in the jaw and managing to get a second kick on his nose before gravity took over. She managed to flip far enough away from him to avoid being hit when she landed.

A few more Freelancers had showed up, none having gotten much farther than the door before they stopped to watch.

Maine ran at her, sending hits that she just barely managed to block or dodge. She preferred dodging; even blocking his attacks stung. Eventually he got through her defences and struck her in the chin, and the next thing she knew her back struck the ground.

That might have been it –Ada was dazed, and she could taste blood. But Maine made the mistake of wanting the fight definitively over. If he were smart, or knew more about her fighting style, he would have stayed back and waited until she was up.

As it was, he slowly walked over to Ada while she was still on the ground.

When he was in range, she sprung up, kicking as she twirled to her feet. Her foot hit him squarely in the solar plexus, and while she might've been dizzy from it, he faired a lot worse. Cursing, he backed off, and she closed the gap.

She kicked repeatedly. He may have been stronger, but she had speed and agility on her side. Every time he tried to catch her leg to counter, she pulled it away. Each individual kick wasn't doing a lot of damage on its own, but five in a row, and Maine was starting to show some pain.

Ada spun, her arm flying out like a knife and hitting his collarbone, and then kicking out the very next spin. She had put as much force as she dared into that kick, as well as the momentum from her twirls and previous attacks. If that didn't drop him, he deserved to win.

But it did drop him.

Maine hit the floor groaning, still conscious, but not getting up anytime soon.

The gym was silent for a moment, before South started snickering and Wyoming jogged over to his friend, helping him up. Wash took Maine's other arm, and seemed unsure of whether to glare at Ada or congratulate her, so settled on a half-hearted smile in her direction. Wyoming just glared at her, before the three left the gym.

"Nice one, kid," Illinois smiled, running over to Ada, who was spitting out blood onto the floor. Someone else could clean it up.

"You kicked his ass!" Kenni agreed. "You okay?"

"Bit my cheek," Ada shrugged.

Jerry, and many other Freelancers, joined in with the congratulations, but several kept their distance. CT looked amused that Maine had been beat (twice), but didn't seem too bothered about who'd administered the beating. While her brother offered Ada and smile and a nod, South seemed annoyed. It took Ada a while to figure out why; South had been kicked off the board altogether, and was now ranked just above Ada. Ada was now her direct competition.

After the Freelancers dispersed, either around the gym or back to their dorms, Jerry gave Ada the rest of his water.

"You deserve it," he grinned. She finished his water off, and because he was still working out went to refill the bottle for him.

There were some taps a little way off from the gym, so Ada headed for those. When she arrived, a certain black-clad Freelancer was already there. She had changed out of her armour too, and her spiky red hair and pale skin were clearly visible. There was something off about her appearance, though. Like the Uncanny Valley.

Ada was usually almost terminally shy around strangers, but she knew how hard it was to be the new girl. She walked up and greeted Texas.

"Hey," she smiled as warmly as she could.

Texas glanced in her direction. "You're the girl who beat up that idiot, right?"

"Who, Maine?" Ada asked. "Yeah, that was me."

"Not bad," Texas said.

"I'm Nevada, by the way," Ada told her. "Friends call me Ada."

"Well, _Nevada," _Texas said. "That first move was a little sloppy. You helped him into the wall, yes, but you didn't follow up. Work on that."

Ada nodded dubiously as Texas walked away, not even giving Ada a chance to thank her for the advice. Shrugging the strange encounter off, she filled up Jerry's water bottle and headed back to the gym.

When she entered, some Freelancers ignored her, but most stopped and stared. The board on the wall showed her why.

1. Carolina

2. Wyoming

3. North Dakota

4. Washington

5. Maine

6. Nevada

She nearly dropped Jerry's water bottle.


	2. Chapter 2

"Reckon I should apologise?" Ada asked.

"To who?" Jerry asked, stuffing his face with pizza. Generally, they weren't allowed to eat junk food, but Jerry always managed to smuggle some in. Ada had long ago given up asking him how. As long as she could reap the benefits, who cares how he managed to smuggle pizza onto a frigate?

"Maine."

"Why? He threw the first punch," Jerry pointed out.

"Don't speak with your mouth open," Ada lectured. "And yes, he threw the first punch, but I pushed him to it. I knew what I was doing."

"He still injured York," Jerry pointed out.

"I guess, but if the Director's ok with it…" Ada trailed off. She still wasn't sure how she should feel about the Director's callousness to a Freelancer's injuries. She could understand why York was moved down; it was unlikely he'd manage to keep his rating on the board with a badly injured eye. But it seemed a lot like Maine and Wyoming were getting rewarded for their giant breaking of regulations.

Jerry sighed. "I don't see the reason for it, but alright, if you must. Now eat your damn pizza."

Ada gave Jerry a thankful smile, and finished her pizza. It was a constant source of amusement for Kenni that short, slight Ada could eat an entire large pizza, chips, chicken nuggets, wash it all down with a few cans of coke, and still have room for dessert, without seeming to gain a pound. And still be battle-ready.

Ada left Jerry's room (it was the only place they were sure they wouldn't get caught) and checked the time. She had an hour before her scheduled training session with Illinois, Kenni and Jerry. Plenty of time, especially since Maine wasn't the most talkative of guys.

The two most likely places to find Maine would be the cafeteria or the gym. Since Ada didn't want to meet him in the gym –to many negative connotations –she headed for the cafeteria.

Ada poked her head in, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Maine. He was sitting with Wash, armour on but helmet off. He had his back turned to her. There were a few other Freelancers around, but none were that close.

She hovered at the door for a moment. _Suck it up_, Ada told herself fiercely. _If you'd just minded your own damn business, this wouldn't be necessary._

Of course, if Maine and Wyoming hadn't used potentially lethal force against the new girl, she wouldn't have started the fight in the first place. But that line of thinking was apt to lead to another fight, so she steered clear off it.

She walked towards their table, hoping she wouldn't stutter like an idiot, which she usually did when apologising if she wasn't 100% sure she was in the wrong. She stopped just behind Maine, who ignored her. Wash gave her a cautioning glance, obviously not wanting another fight; one that would likely leave Ada with a few broken bones, considering Maine was in his armour.

"Um…Maine?" Ada began. _Damn, I sound like an idiot already._

He growled something unintelligible, but she was certain it wasn't anything nice.

"I'm really sorry, about, you know, the gym… thing."

He lifted his head a little, which she took as encouragement.

"I disagree with what you did, but I shouldn't have reacted like that," she finished strongly. _Not bad._

Maine grumbled a 'fine', not meeting her eye, and then left. Confused between the difference in tone and word, Ada turned to Washington.

"Does that mean I'm forgiven?" she asked him.

Wash shrugged. "You're forgiven."

Ada turned to leave, but Wash stopped her.

"Y'know, he really didn't mean to… y'know," Wash gestured vaguely at his eye.

"Yeah, I know."

"So why'd you…?"

Ada considered that. "I guess I was just pissed it had ended badly. I probably wouldn't have cared if no one got hurt."

"Ok," Wash nodded. "Wait, don't you have a training session now?"

"It's still ages away," she said defensively.

Ada left him, glad that business was done with. She still had a good 50 minutes before her training session, too.

However, when she passed the assigned training floor on the way to her room, it was already occupied. Kenni and Illinois were in there, fighting against Jerry and CT. Ada looked at her watch; still 45 minutes to their fight, according to her watch. And where the hell did CT come into this?

"My apologies if you did not receive the memo, Agent Nevada," the Counsellor said, and she had to force herself not to jump a foot into the air. Ada could swear he snuck up like that on purpose. "In light of the recent changes in ratings, the training schedule has changed. A revised version was sent to all who it would immediately affect."

"Oh… have I received it yet, sir?" she asked, feeling a little peeved that she hadn't been considered a priority when she was one of those 'immediately affected'.

"Just now, yes," the Counsellor told her. "I would suggest you go and examine it."

"Thanks, sir," Ada said, leaving quickly. The Counsellor creeped her out.

She arrived back at her dorm, still smarting a bit. She had been training with Jerry, Kenni and Illinois since she joined the program. Heck, she'd been play-fighting with Kenni since they were eight.

She checked her new schedule on her computer, and she did have a fight today, in two hours. She would be fighting against North and South. With Maine.

Of course. What else had she been expecting?

After a moment of consideration, Ada decided that maybe Maine's fighting style and her own would complement each other alright, provided they never tried to go after the same opponent. She'd seen that tactic work with a few other teams, but they'd be more likely to end up hitting one another, and that might end in a repeat of the gym incident.

She changed into her armour anyway. It was mostly a dark olive green, with pale grey trimmings.

She fingered the back of the helmet for a second; each Freelancer's helmet seemed to have a small slot in the back, and none of them could figure out why. Some thought it made the armour better or something along those lines, but Freelancers who came from a techy background quickly shot that theory down.

Shrugging, Nevada put her helmet on, and left her room.

And walked straight into York.

"Hey," Ada said, "aren't you supposed to be in the hospital?"

"I'm fine," he shrugged. "Doc's letting me out tomorrow."

"If they're letting you out tomorrow, then why are you –" Ada decided that would get her nowhere. "How's your eye?"

"It's fine," he insisted.

"Um, ok," she said. "Bye."

"Bye," York said, and they walked off in opposite directions.

Ada considered telling somebody –maybe the medics, because York definitely wasn't supposed to be up –but dismissed it. He'd probably just sneak out again, and she'd get labelled a squealer.

She watched the others fight their match. They were up to hand-to-hand, and Kenni and CT were pretty evenly matched. A couple other Freelancers were already there; Georgia, the still-recovering Utah, and Colorado. They gave her respectful greetings which she returned, glad the helmet hid her when she rolled her eyes. It was like she was a bloody princess now that she'd made it on the big board.

She watched Kenni and Illinois lose against CT and Jerry in hand-to-hand, wondering idly if she and Maine would suffer similar humiliation.


	3. Chapter 3

Ada waited for Maine, trying to suppress her impatience. She knew they were hardly buddies now; she still more or less hated him, and vice versa. But he wouldn't blow off a mandatory training session because he was mad at her – would he?

_Would he even be punished?_

Ada winced at the thought, hoping it wouldn't jump out at her every time someone did something that was supposed to be 'bad'. Hell, why didn't she and Jerry just eat pizza in the caf? Probably gain him some popularity –

Maine jogged in, putting on his helmet as he entered. Ignoring Ada's questioning gaze and South's snickers, Maine picked up two staves and handed one to Ada.

Ada scowled at his choice, and returned it. In exchange, she picked up a slightly longer stave and idly wondered if Maine had meant to insult her height or not, all the while feeling a dirty look directed at her. _South,_ she figured. South was ranked seventh now, and that was largely due to Ada and Texas.

_And I'm the only one in between her and the board,_ Ada realized.

FILSS's voice sounded through the speakers.

"Round start: three… two… one."

Rather than attack with her brother, South lunged right at Ada, trying to strike her head. Ada blocked, and kept blocking as South kept up the onslaught. Ada looked for an opening, but found none; South kept herself guarded while attacking.

If North hadn't yelled 'Switch!' Ada might've been in trouble. But he had, and as South prepared to twist away from their fight, Ada hit her hard, her stave solidly hitting South's ribs. She staggered away from Ada, but managed to block Maine's swing.

Ada now had North to deal with. She blocked his opening swipe, spun, and flicked. North tried to block, and did a pretty good job. But he couldn't match his sister's speed, and Ada still managed to do some damage.

North recovered, but not quickly enough to stop her follow-up; she struck him in the gut, sending him colliding into South as she blocked Maine's attacks.

South cursed, then ducked. But North hadn't seen Maine's swing, and the stave struck him hard and he was sent flying.

Before South could rise, Ada stepped forward and struck three times; back, shoulder, head.

"Round over. Point, Team One," FILSS announced.

Ada returned her stave, ignoring the biting remarks from South that were _just_ loud enough to reach her ears. She was thankful that the training session would only last five rounds; South was trying to beat specifically _her_, and the less time Maine had to 'accidentally' hit her, the better.

"Stave training over. Begin hand to hand combat."

South immediately targeted Ada, leaving North with Maine.

Ada moved to block a kick to her right, before realising it was a feint. South's kick turned into a step and her fist connected with Ada's helmet.

Ada cursed, kicking out on instinct. Her foot connected, but with little effect; South kept punching. Soon Ada found a rhythm, and managed to block easily. But South was still pushing her back, and Ada soon hit the wall.

With nowhere to run, South kept landing more hits, and Ada was reduced to blocking maybe one in four moves. She noticed a small gap and took it, slipping away from the wall and staggered, trying to catch the breath that had been beaten out of her.

Ada turned to face her opponent, but only met South's kick face-first.

Ada landed hard, groaning. Her ribs stung and she was winded; that was the work of South's multiple punches. Her head hurt and her vision spun; that was South's kick. Distantly, Ada heard growls as the twins finished off Maine, and FILSS announced the point.

Ada took a deep breath and flipped to her feet. She ignored Maine's glare and prepared to fight again. Ignoring North's hand on her shoulder, South turned back to Ada.

"Round start: three… two… one."

Anyone could tell there was something different about this round. Ada was more aggressive, and South stepped up to compensate.

Ada sent a kick to her head which South ducked under. South returned the favour and Ada deflected. The fight escalated quickly, neither woman landing a hit.

As Ada landed in a crouch from a blocked fly kick, South hit down toward her helmet. Ada's left leg flew backwards to steady herself and she double blocked the punch.

The fight froze for a moment, South glaring down at the young woman.

"Give up!" South hissed. Ada shook her head briefly. South yelled in frustration and backed away slightly, preparing for another bout.

Ada straightened up a little, then swept her leg out and around to strike South's knee. South's guard had been high, so it took her down.

South rolled to her feet and Ada continued her attack, getting in a few punches to South's ribs for karma. As South staggered, Ada used a technique that only worked on the lighter Freelancers.

She moved in, kicking; ribs, hip, waist, leg. Swap kicking leg. Repeat.

Ada kicked straight up, leaving South airborne. Ada kicked up again and again, flipped up and planted her feet on South's shoulders, pushing her into the ground as Ada jumped away, once again with her back to the wall.

Ada turned to see South stumble to her feet, and then lunge.

Ada grabbed South's wrist and pulled her past, helping an opponent into the wall for the second time that day.

_That first move was a little sloppy. You helped him into the wall, yes, but you didn't follow up. Work on that._

As South reeled away from the wall, Ada kicked her firmly in the back, and South hit the wall again, helmet making a satisfying _thud_.

Ada turned to see North and Maine's fight.

"Son of a –" Ada cursed as she dived out of the way. Maine pegged North at the wall, right where Ada had been standing.

"Round over. Point, Team One," FILSS declared. "Training session over."

"There are still two rounds of paint, FILSS," South snapped, eager to even the score.

"Cancelled in light of a mission tomorrow," FILSS replied.

Ada shrugged, removing her helmet as she left the floor, South's curses fading quickly.

Maine caught up to her.

"Not bad," he grumbled. Ada made a quick list of possible responses, 'run away' among them. Maine wasn't nearly as hurt now as he had been during the Gym Incident, and Ada wasn't entirely confident with her chances.

"Thanks," Ada murmured. "I really am sorry," she added.

"Forget it," Maine growled.

"So…" Ada considered. They probably wouldn't ever be 'friends'. "Not enemies?"

"Not enemies," he agreed, and she thought she heard him snicker. Maine left her at the turn-off to his room.

"Night!" Ada called after him, not expecting a response and not getting one.

Ada changed out of her armour into fatigues and flopped onto her bed, praying she wouldn't be on the mission tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

"Agent Nevada, please wake up," FILSS's voice intoned.

Ada groaned, wishing she was home. In her family's small apartment in London, her brother would try and wake her up and Ada would just chuck a pillow at him and he would leave. FILSS, however, would not leave if Ada chucked a pillow at her speaker.

In any case, that was Before. Before everything got messed up, Before she'd joined the military, Before she got roped into Project Freelancer.

"Agent Nevada –"

"I heard you, FILSS," Ada griped, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She checked the clock; 7:30AM. _Hardly got my eight hours_, Ada thought._ But could be worse._

"Good morning, Agent Nevada," FILSS said, her voice sounding brighter. "You are to join the Director and Counsellor on the bridge at 0800."

Ada sighed. "I would appreciate a little more warning next time, FILSS."

"I am just doing my job."

The AI remained silent after that, and Ada figured FILSS had been considerate enough to give her some privacy as she changed into her armour. She noted a scuff on the grey streak of the glove, and scowled. She didn't even _remember_ her wrist being hit. Probably happened while South had her backed against the wall…

Ada left her helmet off and ran a brush over her hair a few times, making it somewhat presentable. Maybe she should get it cut; it was at that annoying length where it could fall in your face but it was too short for you to tie it back.

Grabbing her helmet, Ada figured she had enough time to go to the cafeteria and grab something to eat. She bumped into North and South on the way. North greeted her amiably, but South shoved past her. North shot Ada an apologetic glance as he caught up with his sister.

Well, Wednesday evenings were going to be interesting from now on. As well as a few other times; Ada had been pitted against North and South a few times in her new schedule.

When she arrived at the cafeteria, it was about half-full. Kenni, Jerry and Illinois were at their usual table, as well as a few others. Jerry immediately waved her over. Ada gestured to the food, meaning _In a second. I'm hungry._

Jerry nodded, turning back to his conversation with Georgia.

Ada grabbed some toast, staring longingly at the hash browns and bacon but passing over them. She brought her tray to their table, sitting down next to Kenni. Kenni was in her dark blue with pink trim armour, and immediately started complaining about how the new schedule was waking her up earlier.

"I have a match at 0800. That's ridiculous!" Kenni moaned. "And CT's not as fun to spar with as you. She's too serious…" Ada chuckled, far too used to her friend's antics to get peeved at her. Kenni and Ada had been friends since elementary school, way before they were even Kenni and Ada.

They had been paired together in a writing exercise, and the teacher had snapped at them when they had spelled the word 'constabulary' wrong. How a six-year-old and an eight-year-old (Kenni had started school really late) were supposed to know how to spell that right, Ada still didn't know.

In any case, after the teacher had turned her back, the two young girls had looked at each other in silent agreement before picking up two objects –Ada's book and Kenni's pencil-case –and pegging them both at the teacher. For good measure, Ada had called the teacher a 'pretentious bastard'.

Ada had had no idea what those words had meant, but both she and Kenni had known how to hit a moving target.

Illinois turned to Ada.

"Why you in your armour, kid?" Illinois asked. "You don't have anything scheduled for today."

Ada sighed. Some Freelancers preferred to stay in their armour for most of the time; North, South, Carolina, York. Mainly the 'boarders' or those just below, but it wasn't a habit Ada had gotten into.

"Not turning into a boarder on us, are you?" Jerry teased, but the smile was a little strained. Not surprising, as Jerry and Wyoming had been friends before Wyoming had gotten on the board. Now Wyoming largely ignored his old friend.

"Briefing," Ada muttered, biting into her toast.

Kenni stiffened almost undetectably beside Ada; she and Ada had been on every mission together. "Is that so?" Kenni said eventually.

"Yeah, apparently," Ada shrugged dismissively, hoping her friends' stares would die down.

"It makes sense," Massachusetts said from the other end of the table, trying to draw attention away from Ada. Ada gave her a grateful look. "She's on the board; she gets different missions."

"Yeah," Illinois agreed, trying to sound brighter. "Nice work, Ada."

Ada smiled, half wishing she wasn't even on the board. Not everyone on who'd been on the board became an ice-cold bitch or a pompous bastard. Hell, Carolina, who'd been _Number One_ since Ada had joined the project, wasn't that bad. A little scary, definitely, but not bad. And North had been up there for a while too, and he was still easy to get along with. Although the same couldn't be said for his other half.

Ada finished her toast and said good-bye to her friends, the only one not acting awkward being Georgia. Georgia seemed to be more along for the ride than anything else, so he didn't care too much about the board or who was on it.

Ada made her way through the _Mother of Invention_, slipping into the bridge quietly. Carolina, Wash, Maine and the pilots were all already there; the only one who didn't seem surprised to see her was Carolina.

"I didn't know you were coming, Nevada," Wash said, and Ada decided not to take the surprise in his voice as an insult.

"Neither did I," Ada replied, moving over to a position where she could still see the table in the centre of the room but would be largely unnoticeable. The Director and Counsellor were closer to the computer at the far end of the bridge.

Ada struggled to see what they were doing, but a sharp backwards glare from the Counsellor told her to look away. CT came in, followed by the twins, and finally Wyoming. They all seemed surprised to see her, but at least North seemed welcoming enough. CT seemed to not really care, but South and Wyoming looked livid.

_What did I do to him again?_ Ada wondered as Wyoming purposefully ignored her, coming up with not much.

Carolina approached the Director and Ada took the opportunity to sneak a peek at what he was doing. It looked like he was talking to himself, now that the Counsellor had joined the agents by the table.

Carolina stopped halfway. "Director?"

"Yes, Agent Carolina," the Director acknowledged.

"The team is ready, sir," she announced.

"Agents," the Director began. "Your mission today is by far the most important to date. As our number one, Carolina will be leading from the field."

Carolina took her place opposite the Director, activating the table's projector.

Carolina began talking about the suspected Insurrectionist activity in the area, and Ada noted that CT looked a little… shifty.

"Our intel says that members of the UNSC loyal to the Insurrection have acquired a high-level target and are holding it in this secure location. It's a 110-storey building in the centre of an _urban_ environment," Carolina continued, the holograms above the table highlighting her words.

Ada smirked as Wyoming made a dumb comment about security, and listened as Carolina explained their mission. There were two targets; one in the building, the 'sarcophagus', and one on the freeway. Ada kept her eyes on the projections, ignoring the occasional curious glances thrown her way, wishing they'd get over it. She was on the board, so she got to tag along. Simple.

"Both targets need to be acquired within minutes of each other. Failing that, the remaining target will enter lockdown and we miss our window," Carolina stated.

"We will _not_ have another chance at this," the Director interjected.

"So that means two teams," Wash said.

"Two teams," Carolina agreed. "Team A will consist of me, Wash and Maine."

Carolina outlined what their role would be, and then; "York is still in the infirmary, so Wash, you will have to pull off lock-picking duty."

"Um…" Wash began. "Ok, guess I'll reread my field manual in the transport…"

"Hey," York interrupted, stepping through the door. "Don't be so quick to give away my job."

"York?" Carolina asked. "I thought you were in the hospital."

"According to their records, I am," York said. At this, he caught sight of Ada and she swore he dropped her a wink. Remembering their meeting as she left her room, Ada only sighed.

"How's your eye?" Carolina asked, sounding very gentle.

"'S ok, docs are letting me out tomorrow," York said cheerfully.

"Tomorrow, huh?" Wash asked doubtfully.

"Look, I couldn't let you guys have all the fun without me," York said. "Besides… you need someone to get you in."

Wash and Carolina argued for a moment before York and Carolina began whispering to each other. Ada felt like she was watching some documentary on a completely different species.

"It's settled then," the Director interrupted York and Carolina's conversation. "York will join Team A and get them in the facility."

"Thank you, sir," York replied, swapping places with Carolina.

Carolina and Lucy, one of the pilots, explained transport.

"Team B will be North, Wyoming, CT and Nevada," Carolina continued. "You will act as recon for Team A and once we enter the building you will disengage to attack the target on the freeway. North will lead Team B."

"Got it," North said.

"What about Agent South?" CT asked, and Ada remembered that South was also in the room.

"Agent South will not be accompanying you on this mission," the Director stated. Even though Ada kept her eyes on the Director, she could easily sense South glaring a hole through her helmet.

"Hmm," CT quipped. "Guess the world's a tough place when you move down a rank. And what about our new recruit? Will she be joining us?"

"That's enough questions, Connecticut," the Director growled.

"Notice he didn't say no," CT muttered.

Carolina continued her speech, ignoring CT and the Director's conversation. Ada tuned out once Carolina started talking about the sarcophagus; let Team A handle their own objective. She did, however, hear CT's next question:

"How do we know what's in it, but not know how big it is?"

"Extra packing," Ada replied before her brain could catch up to her mouth. Everyone turned to her, and she was glad the helmet hid her blush. "They got a big box, put the target in, and then placed, I don't know, Styrofoam around it."

CT seemed to accept this answer, and then noticed the Director glaring at her.

"Sorry, sir," CT murmured, Ada adding in her own apology.

"We have a job to do people," Carolina finished with a well-practiced kicker. "Let's do it right and come home safe."

"That is all. You are dismissed," the Director announced.

"Yes, sir!" the Freelancer snapped to attention and headed towards the launch bay, stopping only to grab their weapons.

Ada reached for the sniper rifle at the same time North did, and let him take it. Instead she took a DMR and an M6G.

Team B entered their pelican with South glaring daggers at them.

**A/N: So, I've recently learned that A/Ns are legal here, and I think this is how you do them.**

**I feel like explaining myself a little in regards to this fic, so here goes.**

**Nevada is not, in any way, me. Nor is she who I wish to be. A friend of mine heard I made an OC and said 'Oh, so basically you added yourself into the story?' and so I felt the need to clarify that she is nothing like me, other than the obvious (i.e., we're both human).**

**I made up Nevada because she in very much different to the other Freelancer women. Especially South.**

**The whole inspiration for this fic was one little idea floating in my head: **_**The Freelancers near the top are really close-knit. Would they ever accept anyone else? And how does one change from an ordinary (ha!) Freelancer to a 'boarder'?**_

**Nobody else cared as far as I knew (and probably, nobody still does) but I couldn't ignore it.**

**The Pilot Lady's name is Lucy because it's something I heard circling the RT site.**

**Thank you Greader, Randompie and Dyranum for correcting me on what Carolina said.**

**Con-crit is appreciated, particularly on writing style.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Since RT seems to classify 'recon' as 'look out the pelican window' I skipped straight to the deplaning (depelicaning).**

**I also didn't actually see who brought what weapon, so I made it up. If it's wrong, my apologies… but I'm not changing.**

Ada hopped out of the pelican behind the rest of her team, sparing a look over her shoulder at the departing aircraft. They were to walk the rest of the way to where they would intercept the package; on an overpass towards the edge of the CBD.

It wasn't a long walk, and there were no civilians to avoid. They spread out along overpass, waiting for their target to come into view.

"I don't remember _that_ being mentioned," CT said, and Ada nodded in silent agreement.

As well as the SUV carrying the package, there was a massive escort; Warthogs, armoured car, everything. All were armed, and this was far from the simple stop-and-grab Ada had envisioned. North seemed to figure this out pretty quickly, and turned towards the rest of his team.

"I don't think we can take all of them," North admitted.

"Neither do I," CT remarked.

Wyoming grunted his agreement, eyes still on the freeway below them.

"Wyoming," North said. "Jump down and grab the package. We'll cover you. We run as soon as you're clear. Got it?"

"Of course," Wyoming replied, edging towards where the SUV would pass under the overpass, keeping out of sight.

Wary of where CT and North aimed, Ada picked a target: a Warthog's driver, slightly ahead of the SUV. She couldn't help but glance longingly at the sniper rifle North had. It was her usual weapon of choice and Kenni, Illinois, Jerry, Massa… none of them had ever given her any competition for it.

_Get used to it,_ Ada thought. _This is how it's gonna be until you move up a few ranks or move down a few again._

Pushing these thoughts aside, Ada waited until her target was within range, heard the sharp report of the sniper rifle as North fired, and squeezed off two shots. One hit the driver's eye, the other hit his chest. The Warthog crashed into the barrier between lanes and the gunner was thrown out.

Ada took out a few more of the drivers ahead of the SUV; CT focused on the gunners. North was aiming further back, and their combined effort managed to thin the escort out considerably, but there was still too much firepower on their side for Ada's comfort. Any of the four Freelancers could have shot the SUV, but then they would have to run out and grab the package with no cover… not an attractive prospect considering the size of the escort.

The SUV was rapidly approaching the underpass, and Wyoming prepared to jump. Ada ducked behind the barrier as the gunners and passengers finally found their assailants. CT and North were doing the same, popping up and firing whenever there was a break.

Ada's firing became a little less discriminate under fire, and she found herself occasionally hitting the passengers rather than the drivers. The passengers were still targets –they were armed and firing as well as the gunners –but Ada still spared a brief moment to curse herself.

The SUV was now right where it had to be, and Wyoming jumped from the overpass. He should've landed right on the bonnet –he would've. Had one particularly sharp-eyed passenger not pulled the trigger before CT, Ada or North could take him out.

Wyoming was hit –six to the torso was Ada's guess. As if this wasn't bad enough, the shots pushed him back through the air, and rather than landing on the bonnet he smacked the grill of the car and was thrown up and over, landed hard on the road behind a flipped Warthog that North had taken out.

CT and North cursed, and Ada noticed the further problem. There was a car turning towards the flipped Warthog –an armoured behemoth of a vehicle. The 'car' was big enough to smash through the Warthog –and Wyoming –with ease. It was going to finish off the Freelancer –assuming, of course, he wasn't already dead.

Ada made a snap decision; this was a situation that called for a little recklessness, and that was a trait she would never lack.

She secured her DMR to her back, and jumped from the overpass. Some gunners and passengers tried to shoot her, hoping the same strategy would work twice. However, none had the aim of the passenger who'd shot Wyoming, and North had taken care of him.

Ada landed, rolled to her feet. She ignored the remainder of the escort forming itself into a long barricade near her, as seen on all cop-chase shows on TV. Likewise ignoring the incredulous stares from the escort (and yes, from her teammates) she ran between the flipped Warthog and the fast-approaching armoured vehicle.

_Please work,_ Ada thought meekly, and activated her armour enhancement.

Ada thought the name of her enhancement was 'armour lock'. She'd heard it tossed around by the Counsellor and some other high-ups, but whatever it was called, the effect was the same.

She was kneeling on the ground, encompassed in a crackling blue halo, when the vehicle slammed into her.

Ada felt the tiniest jolt; the vehicle rebounded off her and half-shattered, fire breaking out in some areas.

The driver and passengers spilled out, and Ada stood up, ignoring the warning flashing on her visor about her suit's power levels. They'd hold for the fight, and that was all that immediately mattered.

They surrounded her, three-on-one. Like most of her opponents, they were all much larger than her.

One lunged and she deflected, coming around with a punch that would have broken his ribs even without the armour. Even while she pushed him away, she knew he was just the distraction.

She turned to face the man who'd used her brief scuffle to get closer to her. He aimed several hits to her chest and she jumped back to avoid them. Unfortunately, the third guy –who was built like a bear and bigger than a fully-armoured Maine –had moved behind her.

Rather than attack Ada with punches or kicks, Bear-Man wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off her feet. Ada's arms were pinned to her sides.

"I don't hit girls," he explained.

"Chivalrous," Ada muttered, trying to kick away. But her kicks had no weight to them, and she only caused a little bruising.

The other guy drew his pistol and aimed it at Ada's visor.

"Join your friend, bitch," he snarled, jerking his head towards the flipped Warthog, in the general direction of Wyoming. Just as Ada resigned herself to the fact that she was _goingtodie_, sprays of red burst from the man's head and chest, and he fell to the ground.

Ada craned her neck and saw CT, her apparent saviour.

"George?" the Bear-Man asked, dropping Ada. Ada immediately elbowed him in the gut, twisted, punched him in the jaw (it was all she could reach) and dropped him with a knee to the groin.

CT finished the job with a few rounds fired into Bear-Man's head, before jogging back behind the flipped Warthog, presumably to try and patch up Wyoming.

Ada felt a moment of sympathy for Bear-Man –he was just a big dummy, as far as she could tell. But she quashed that immediately. What would the Director think? She'd be getting a lecture on more than just using her enhancement, Ada was sure.

Ada checked the suit's power levels, and hoped they would hold for now. Ada removed her DMR from her back and used the partially destroyed vehicle as cover. The mission had degraded to a good ol'-fashioned shoot-out.

Ada shot whoever was dumb enough to come out of cover for too long. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see North do the same from behind the Warthog. Ada couldn't see CT or Wyoming.

Ada ducked back behind cover as a man –he actually looked like a legit cop –fired at her. She took the opportunity to reload, and waited until the guy stopped firing before she sprang up and let off a few rounds; three men went down.

"Nevada! Watch your right!" North yelled. Ada flinched back down into cover. She was quick enough to avoid being seriously injured, but a hole still appeared in her visor, and blood still welled up and spilled out of her wound.

North switched to the comm. "Nevada, you alright?"

"Peachy," Ada replied. It wasn't entirely a lie; the bullet had only grazed her. But the scratch that started at her right temple and went along her head was bleeding a little too much for her liking. "I'll be fine. For now," she felt obligated to add that last part.

Ada peeked over her cover and saw the sniper that had hit her. She lined up the sights with his head and fired.

_Asshole, _she thought as the sniper's head dropped.

When North stopped firing, Ada got worried. CT and Wyoming were already occupied –she couldn't expect any help from them. Ada doubted she could hold off all the Insurrectionists on her own.

She glanced behind her, hoping to not see North injured. She could just see him a little behind the Warthog, seemingly talking to no one. _Comm. talk… Carolina, _Ada decided. _Someone in Team A, anyway._

Ada continued firing, trying her best to ignore the blood that was taking every opportunity to cover her eye. The bullet had been stopped by the back of her helmet, and now lay on the back of her neck, too hot to be comfortable. Of course, if not for the black under suit, it probably would've burned her by now.

The Insurrectionist forces had thinned considerably, and for that Ada was eternally grateful. She just wanted to be back in her nice, cosy quarters and sleep.

Ada and Kenni had the exact opposite reactions to this mind set; Kenni tended to slack off a little, while Ada tried to get the job done quicker. Most of the Insurrectionists seemed to be getting nervous, and Ada noticed only a few were shooting. The others were staying behind cover. Either hiding or –

"Now!" one of them yelled, and the remaining Insurrectionists –about fifteen to twenty –ran out from behind their cover. The Insurrectionists were tightly grouped together, and this made Ada and North's job easier.

Ada flicked the pin off a grenade and chucked it to meet the men trying to rush them. It went off, taking down at least half, probably more. Those left were swiftly finished off, some with sniper rounds and others with DMR rounds.

When Ada was sure there were no more, she stood up and walked to join the rest of Team B behind the Warthog.

"You alright, kid?" North asked, noting the round hole in her visor and the cracks radiating out from it.

"I'll live," Ada shrugged, pulling off her helmet.

"Ouch," CT commented, taking one look at Ada's blood crusted face and hair. The bleeding had slowed down a lot, and was little more than a trickle now.

"Can't be worse than him," Ada commented, gesturing towards Wyoming, who seemed to be unconscious. "How is he?"

"He took a lot of punishment, but he'll be fine," CT announced.

North called for extraction, and a Pelican landed almost immediately. The ramp lowered and Team B filed in, North supporting Wyoming. CT took a seat near the pilot while North settled Wyoming into one of the seats, bringing down the guardrail so he wouldn't be jostled by the flight.

It took a while for Ada to notice the other Freelancer in the Pelican; Washington.

"Wash? Where's the rest of your team?" North asked.

Wash shrugged. "I don't know. We got separated after we jumped off the building…" Wash noticed the stares he was getting. "I should probably go back a bit."

While Wash explained the adventures (or misadventures) of himself, York, Maine and Carolina, the Pelican took off to pick up the rest of the Team A. CT bandaged Ada's head, pausing only when Wash mentioned that the new girl, Texas, had showed up.

"Told you he didn't say no," CT quipped.

**A/N: I am not entirely sure about who was on the Pelican in ep17, so I just made the assumption that since North and Wyoming were there, so was CT (and for the purposes of this fic, Ada). I did not mention MBG because we are still unsure of who he/she is.**

**I'm not really sure about this chapter, so the below statement counts double:**

**As always, CC is love.**


	6. Chapter 6

A few minutes after Wash told them about Team A's escapade jumping off the building (the bit about Carolina kicking Maine out the window almost made Ada giggle, and made the others smile), they were landing again, to pick up York.

"Hey," he greeted, climbing into the not-quite-landed Pelican. He noticed Wyoming's unconscious body and Ada's bloodied face immediately. "What happened?"

"Things went a little… wrong," North answered. "We're all fine though."

"Wyoming's unconscious with bullet wounds," CT pointed out.

"And he was hit by a car," Ada added.

"Mostly fine," North corrected.

"What about you?" York asked, gesturing to the right side of Ada's face.

"Sniper," Ada replied. "He's dead now."

The guys chuckled, and CT just shook her head, but not in a mean way.

_Maybe the boarders aren't so bad, _Ada thought, a little more at ease with the idea. _Maybe I won't have to be watching my back all the time._

Then she remembered the glares she'd received from South and Wyoming, and her good mood was brought down.

"Where're Carolina and Maine?" Wash asked York.

York gestured to the closed doorway of a highway tunnel. "Carolina and Texas are chasing down the briefcase in there."

"And Maine?" North asked.

York was quiet for a moment and Ada was about to repeat North's question when she realised the others already knew the answer; they'd all known each other long enough. Ada was gonna have to get with the program.

Ada was writing up her mission report in her quarters. As team leader, North was the one who had to make a lengthy, in-depth report, but she still had to write one up so that the Director and Counsellor could take care of any discrepancies.

They'd found Maine –alive, thankfully, but seriously injured. He was now in the infirmary, and Wyoming and Carolina were right there with him. If North had had his way, Ada would've joined them. But she'd argued that it was just a scratch, and that CT had done a fine job of patching her up anyway.

Ada may have been fine, but her visor was not. She had given her helmet to Illinois, who'd promised to fix it as soon as he could. She'd thanked him, and jogged back to her room to shower, wary of her injury.

Now, her hair no longer brown and red but just brown (and extremely wet, as she never bothered with a hair dryer) Ada was debating with herself –and Kenni –on whether to see Maine in the infirmary.

"You're paired with him a lot in training," Kenni said, playing with Ada's hair, a habit she'd kept for years. "If you want to go check on him, it's perfectly justified. Don't even know why you want to visit him, anyways. Two days ago you hated each other. You're too nice sometimes, Ada… Hey, who's going to replace him in training until he's better?"

"I have no idea," Ada said honestly. That had been the last thing on her mind. "But is it justified? We've barely even been upgraded to 'not enemies'."

"Well, you don't hate each other anymore, right?" Kenni asked.

"No… well, not much."

"And you're stuck with him for a while?"

"Until they revise the training schedule again, yes."

"Then it's justified. We're not in London anymore, Ada. You don't have to worry about what society thinks of you. You need to get that deb ball out of you, girl," Kenni concluded. Then she switched to another topic, not on purpose but because she had a short attention span. "I really oughta get you a dryer for Christmas or something…"

Once Kenni had left for more training (not before bitching about how Georgia was too formal) and Ada had handed in her bloody report (not without the secretary or whoever giving her the evil eye… or was that just her face?) Ada headed towards the infirmary.

Ada knew Carolina had been released; she'd heard South mention it a minute ago (from a safe distance, of course). Wyoming hadn't really been hit anywhere lethal, but his injuries would keep him down for a little while.

As she entered the medical ward, Ada drew some glances from the staff. Not surprising, since they probably didn't usually see a perfectly healthy Freelancer out of armour. And Ada's sage tank top with the Freelancer insignia clearly marked her out as one of _them._

She walked right past them all, giving a nod here and there to some she vaguely recognised. Within seconds, she realised she had absolutely _no idea_ where she was going.

"Excuse me, sir?" Ada asked, stopping one of the docs. "I'm looking for…" _my friend, _she was going to say, and then thought better of it, "Agent Maine?"

"Popular guy," the doc said, shaking his head sadly. "Already a couple of yours there. Maine's not stable enough for visitors, but his room is two rights and a left, that way," the doc pointed her in the right direction –the exact opposite way she'd been heading.

"Thank you," Ada mumbled, and walked away.

Two rights and a left later, Ada could see the window to Maine's room. She couldn't actually see inside from her angle, but she knew it was his because Wash and North were standing in front of it.

"How's he doing?" Ada asked in greeting.

"Not great," North answered.

"The doc said he wouldn't talk again," Wash added, looking haggard.

Ada opened her mouth to reply, but ended up saying nothing. What could she say, anyway? That Maine was going to be just fine?

She looked through the window, and she could just see Maine lying on the blood-stained bed, medics surrounding him. Seeing the blood –the lots and _lots_ of blood –Ada turned away, hand flying to her mouth in an effort not to throw up.

"How's your head?" North asked, trying to distract her.

"Fine," Ada told him. "Bullet barely scratched me."

"Well aren't you lucky?" Wash snapped. After a second he noticed Ada and North were staring at him, one with regret and embarrassment and the other with shock.

"I'm sorry, I know –" Ada began, but Wash cut her off.

"No, I'm sorry," he said. "It's not your fault…"

"Don't worry about it," Ada said. "I understand."

Wash nodded, glad to have that done with. North seemed pensive for a moment.

"How old are you, Nevada?" he asked eventually, not taking his eyes of the window overlooking the hospital room.

"Twenty-one, and it's Ada," she replied without skipping a beat; she'd heard the question enough. "I got recruited straight out of basic, same as Kenni –uh, Kentucky."

"Same with a few others, I think," Wash added.

"Why?" Ada asked.

North shrugged. "Just wondering."

The standard response, one she'd gotten first from Illinois, then from Georgia, Massachusetts, Ohio… the list went on.

"Why were you recruited?" a new voice asked.

CT stopped next to the other three, nodding a greeting at each of them.

Ada considered that for a moment –no one had actually told her _exactly_ why she'd been chosen. Ada and Kenni had been given a cursory explanation, and then what sounded like the opportunity of a lifetime: join an elite group of soldiers, save the world, get paid.

"Our skill levels were the highest in our company," Ada replied. "They also mentioned something about our psych profiles fitting perfectly for this project."

"I was told the same thing," CT said.

"…And?" Ada asked, genuinely curious.

CT looked like she was about to continue, but a Look from Wash silenced her. "Nothing."

The four stood in a not-quite-awkward silence for a while, watching the flow of movement from the medics slow. Eventually, one walked out of the room and up to them.

"He's stable," the medic announced. "But he won't be conscious for quite a while, and his throat…" the medic shook her head. "He won't be talking again."

The only one who hadn't already been expecting that was CT, and even she didn't show much surprise.

"You can visit tomorrow, if you're lucky," the medic said. "Just don't expect him to be lucid."

As the medic walked away, Wash was very clearly upset.

"Hey," Ada said gently, giving his arm a squeeze. "He'll be fine. Maine's tough, right?"

"Right," North agreed. "Don't worry too much about him."

CT grabbed Wash's hand and led him away, muttering something about the cafeteria to the other two.

"I think all three of them knew each other before Freelancer," North told her.

"Oh," Ada said simply, checking through the window to see if there were any changes in Maine's condition.

"Hey, Ada," North said confidentially.

"What?" Ada asked.

"When they call you in, don't try and defend yourself –it'll just make things worse."

"Who –call me where?" Ada asked.

"Agent Nevada," FILSS announced over the speakers. "The Director wishes to speak to you."

"Hell," Ada muttered.

**A/N: Aaaand scene. Just thought I'd tell you all that I feel somewhat obligated to keep it as close to canon as possible (or close enough) until season 9 finishes. Luckily, (for my creativity, at least) there is only one more episode left, and then I shall run rampant. You shall see AIs. You shall see Descent Into Madness.**

**Also, I think most people should know what a debutante (deb) ball is, but just in case: It's an old-fashioned ball where young women, generally aged 16, are introduced to society. Lots of white dresses, white gloves, etc.**

**Con-crit is love.**


	7. Chapter 7

On the way to the Counsellor's office (Ada would never entirely lose her habit of calling it 'the principal's office') Ada finally noticed the board.

"Crap," Ada muttered. The new girl, Texas, was now Number One. Carolina was second, then York, Wash, Maine and –

"Me?" Ada yelped to no one in particular. She got an answer anyway.

"Yep –you're still a boarder, Ada," Jerry said.

Ada jumped about a foot in the air, but recovered well. "Looks like it," she agreed. "I don't get why. North would've made more sense. He _was_ team leader."

"What actually happened?" Jerry asked. "I can't seem to get a straight answer from anyone."

"Have you asked anyone who was actually on the mission?" Ada replied, smiling.

Jerry smiled back. "Well, no…"

"There's your problem," Ada laughed. "Tell you later; have to go to the principal's office."

"Oooh, Ada got in trouble," Jerry's tone was jovial enough, but there was a little concern there, too. Concern that Ada picked up on.

"Yeah, whatever," she said flippantly. "Don't worry; I'm innocent until proven guilty."

With that, Ada walked past him.

"Good luck!" he yelled.

To be fair to North, his advice was perfectly valid. Ada just didn't take it.

"But it _worked_," Ada pointed out, really wishing she could say exactly what she wanted to say without being labelled insubordinate. Something along the lines of _get off my case, it worked, who cares about clearance! I saved the guy's life!_

"Be that as it may, you are not cleared for equipment use in the field," the Counsellor said sternly. "The fact that it worked was purely luck –I don't need to remind you of what happened to Agent Utah."

Ada nodded, not speaking. She'd been there when Utah had been screaming –or trying to, anyway.

"While you _did_ save another agent's life –"

"Your actions were reckless and could have gotten both of you killed," the Director told her, cutting the Counsellor off.

Ada held back a sigh; that would get her in more trouble. It always had done, labelled as 'disrespectful'. "Sir…s," she made it a plural for the Counsellor's sake, "I did what I believed was the best course of action at the time. While there was admittedly a large potential for something to go wrong, I saw it as an acceptable risk."

Ada was lying, but she didn't think they'd noticed. That was something she'd learned from her brother –if you act like you know what you're talking about, they're less likely to disagree. Using big words helped, too.

It was one of the millions of little pieces of advice he'd given her, ones she'd never bothered to thank him for.

But those thoughts could wait –Ada had more immediate concerns.

"I would believe that, Nevada," the Director said, "if there were not already several moments of recklessness on your record –even recently, when you saw fit to get into a fight with Agent Maine."

"Then why am I still on the board?" Ada blurted, not able to stop herself.

"Because you saved another agent's life," the Director smirked.

Ada could think of nothing to say to that, so remained silent.

"However," the Director continued, "through either luck or skill, you have managed to escape most of these instances of recklessness with few injuries. If it is the former, we can only hope your luck holds out."

While Ada would have loved to argue it was her skill, she let her silence answer for her.

"You are dismissed," the Director said.

"Sir," Ada said, giving a quick salute. This time she ignored the Counsellor.

She walked out, surprised that she hadn't been bumped down when she passed the board. She hadn't exactly been respectful, and the Director had called her bluff. Throughout the entire meeting he'd pointed out the downsides and faults of her character and what she'd done.

While walking past the gym and the nearby locker rooms, she nearly crashed into York and North.

"Hey, Ada," North greeted as she stopped herself. York also greeted her, but both seemed off to her –too grave, even with Maine and Wyoming in the infirmary, and Carolina injured.

"Hi, guys," Ada said uncertainly.

After a small, awkward pause, North asked her, "How'd it go?"

Ada groaned, accepting the scrambled-for topic. "About as well as you'd expect."

"What's wrong?" York asked.

"Equipment in the field," North explained.

"Apparently saving Wyoming wasn't worth it," Ada griped. "He more or less said it outright. Can't even get a 'nice job on saving another agent's life, Nevada.' Only a 'you saved another agent's life, Nevada.'"

"Were you expecting a congratulations?" York asked, only half-serious.

"…No," Ada admitted. "Would've been nice, though."

"Nice job on saving another agent's life, Nevada," North said.

"Thanks," Ada rolled her eyes, smiling widely.

"Ada?" another voice asked.

The three turned to see Kenni standing in the hallway.

"Hey, Ken," Ada said.

Kenni smiled back her greeting, but seemed unsure of the other two. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" she asked.

"'Course not," Ada replied. "What's up?"

"Illinois, Massa and I are going to Jerry's room for..." Kenni trailed off, unsure of North and York. Ada mentally added 'pizza' at the end of her sentence and nodded for Kenni to continue. "Wanna join?" Kenni asked, seeming a little brighter.

"Sounds like fun," Ada said.

"See you in ten?"

"Sure," Ada said. When Kenni had left and turned a corner –presumably to invite other guests –Ada turned back to the two guys.

"See you later," she said brightly.

Ada walked away, but was stopped by York's voice.

"Hey, Ada…" she turned, and he paused. "The guys we were fighting, the military and cops… what did you think of that?"

Ada took a moment to understand what he meant, and then another moment to consider it. "Well, they were Insurrectionists, too, weren't they?"

"Yes, they were," North interjected, but not with much confidence.

"Weren't they?" Ada repeated, now a little scared –had the men she'd shot been innocent? What about that big dummy…

"Yeah," York said. "Yeah… they were. Don't worry about it, kid. Just not used to shooting at our guys, I guess."

"Ok," Ada agreed, walking away again. But now the thought was there, it stuck –had the people she'd shot been the bad guys? Were they the good guys? What the hell was the Director doing attacking their own people, assuming they were his own people?

She returned to her room on auto-pilot, quickly brushing her hair to make it a little more presentable, something she'd had no time to do when the Director called her in. She looked at herself in the mirror, and saw the rather impressive scar on her right temple, reaching back to her hair. Another couple of inches and she'd have won bragging rights for eye injuries over York –also, she would've been dead. Shoving the depressing thoughts aside –both trains of them –she left her room.

She met Massa on her way to Jerry's room and they walked there together.

"Nasty scar," Massa noted, tying back her dark brown curls.

"Hardly," Ada replied. "Wyoming, Maine and Carolina got the worst of this mission."

"Carolina, huh? I wondered why she'd been bumped down," Massa commented. "How'd the new girl get up there instead? She wasn't even on the mission."

"Texas showed up about halfway through, I think," Ada said. "I never actually saw her, but York and Wash said she was there, setting up a transmitter and chasing down the briefcase. I guess she got to it before Carolina did."

"What, she snuck on board one of the pelicans?" Massa asked, opening the door to Jerry's room, not bothering to knock.

"No, somebody would've seen her –you can't hide a fully-armoured person in a pelican," Massa nodded at this fact. "The Director must've sent her."

"Ok," Massa nodded, seeming to accept this. Ada was grateful for Massa's presence once they were in the room. The six other Freelancers –Illinois, Kenni, Jerry, Georgia, Michigan and Vermont –seemed to freeze and stare at her, in a way that made it obvious who they'd just been talking about.

"Is there a problem?" Massa asked, her Australian accent coming on strong.

"Just feeling flattered that a boarder would lower herself to dine with us," Vermont sneered. He and Michigan disliked anyone on the board. Before, they'd joked about it with Ada, but now she was a target.

"I've not changed since I got on the stupid board," Ada said, striving to keep her voice even.

"That's what we've been trying to tell 'em," Jerry said, while Kenni and Illinois nodded.

"Neither her skill level nor personality has changed," Geo stated, the voice of reason. "She is only being recognised for it more now than before."

"If you boys have a problem then just GTFO," Massa finished ever-so-eloquently, giving Michigan and Vermont a hard glare each.

"Whatever," Michigan snapped.

Ada sat next to Kenni and Geo, and Massa sat beside her.

"I can leave," Ada whispered to Kenni.

"No need, Ada," Jerry interrupted, having heard her offer. "You're my guest, just like these idiots."

Michigan and Vermont hadn't heard what Ada had said, but they'd seen Jerry gesturing at them when he said 'idiots'. They fixed Ada with a glare that she tried to ignore.

Massa offered Ada a slice of pepperoni pizza, and Ada gratefully took it. She hadn't had anything to eat since her brief breakfast that morning. Seeing Ada eat the slice in about thirty seconds, Jerry mock-sighed.

"Might as well give her the whole box," he lectured jokingly. "God knows she could eat it."

Ada punched Geo on the shoulder and told him to pass it on to Jerry, which he graciously did. The conversation stayed nice and polite for the most part, broken by a few comments made by either Mich or Monty. Ada made her whispered offer to leave a few more times, always being rejected by either Kenni or Jerry.

"So, how exactly did the mission go down?" Illinois asked. "No one told us anything."

"I can only tell you what I was there for… and a little of what I've been told," Ada said.

"Hey, it's more than we know now," Kenni said.

"We do not even know the objectives," Geo agreed. Massa nodded, and even Mich and Monty were leaning forward with interest.

"Well," Ada began, not giving a thought to classified information. "We had to split up into two teams. Team A was Carolina, York, Maine and Wash, and Team B was North, CT, Wyoming and me."

She explained the teams' respective goals to her friends, and how Team B's part of the mission went down.

"You mean there was no warning about the escort?" Massa asked.

"Perhaps it was a little added test?" Geo offered.

"Maybe it was mentioned, and they were just too arrogant to pay attention at the briefing," Mich stated, receiving several glares and two elbows for his troubles.

"If that was a test, you should hear what happened to Team A…"

Ada told them about Texas showing up, and how the building Team A was in had been targeted by _Mother of Invention_'s MAC cannon. She told them about the jumping off the building stunt, and there admitted she didn't know much else.

"I thought I felt something earlier today," Monty muttered, too stunned to make a smart-ass comment. "A rumbling along the ship… Never thought it was the MAC cannon."

"Yeah," Kenni agreed. "There was a rumbling… but the MAC? Why?"

"Maybe a test, like Geo said?" Jerry asked.

"Maybe the Director's off his rocker," Mich muttered, before clamping a hand over his mouth. "Shit! Didn't mean that!"

"Don't worry," Massa said. "We won't rat you out."

"Oh, and you're speaking for all of you?" Mich asked, casting a wary glance at Ada.

"Secret's safe with me," Ada promised.

Everyone parted ways, and Mich and Monty seemed to be at least a little less antagonistic of Ada.

Ada closed the door to her quarters, and checked the training schedule –her match with Wash and Maine against North, South and York had been cancelled, as well as another match that had involved the Freelancers on the mission. Satisfied, Ada collapsed onto her bed.

MAC cannons on the Freelancers, sparse intel, shooting _potential _military or law enforcement troops –what the hell was the Project getting at?

**A/N: So, summer hols have arrived in the Land of Oz, and I'll try to post as much as I can… but it may take a while. In the meantime, here's this.**

**A lot of people post disclaimers, which I think seems kinda pointless seeing as this is **__** but if it's something we have to do, I'll do it:**

**I don't own Red vs Blue or Halo. I do own Nevada and the rest of my OCs, but that's pretty superfluous… anyone can make up a Freelancer and call him/her Nevada.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Another chapter. Felt obliged to mention that I'll be going on a brief holiday soon (to a place with unlikely internet connection), so I may not be able to post for a while. I'll see if I can get the next chapter out before then, but don't count on it. But I remain positive: it's a fairly relaxed holiday, so plenty of time to write!**

Once again, the training schedule had changed, and Ada was now spending most of her waking hours sparring; mainly with Wash, North and Geo. Ada had no idea how long this was going to go on for, but if the past week had been any indication, the answer was 'a while'.

Maine was still in the infirmary, and still not allowed visitors –despite the medic's optimistic promise. However, what information she had been able to glean from the medics said that he was doing well –amazing if you considered the extent of his injuries.

Today she was scheduled for a match against York and Wash with Carolina, which she was more than a little nervous about. It wasn't York or Wash she was worried about –it was Carolina. The woman had been bumped down on the board, and if her reaction to that was anything like South's, any mistake of Ada's would bring trouble.

But, as it turned out, there was no need to worry. Carolina and York didn't show.

"Where are they?" Ada asked, flipping her helmet over in her hands. Illinois had replaced the broken visor.

"Don't know," Wash replied. He was as confused as her, though not as impatient.

"FILSS?" Ada called, waiting for the AI's response.

"Yes? How may I be of assistance?" FILSS asked, her usual cheery self.

"Where're York and Carolina?" Ada asked.

"Agents New York and Carolina are currently in a meeting with the Director."

Wash and Ada exchanged a glance, before Wash ventured, "When will they get here?"

"They will not be available for training sessions for at least a day," FILSS replied.

"Why not?" Ada asked.

FILSS paused for a moment. "I am sorry, but that information is not available."

"Great," Ada sighed.

"May I assist in any other way?"

"No thanks, FILSS," Wash said. When the AI didn't respond, Ada assumed she'd gone and spoke.

"Now what?"

Wash shrugged. "One-on-one?" he offered.

"Or gym?" Ada said, preferring that option. The gym would be less tiring, and she didn't want to use more energy than necessary. She was looking at an early night as it was. Training hadn't been so intense since basic.

"Gym," Wash agreed, tone showing he felt the same.

Ada made a quick run into the women's locker room, changing out of her armour into a tank top and sweats, her usual attire. She grabbed her backpack (a small, raggedy thing filled with water bottles and a towel) and joined Wash in the corridor.

"So, what do you think they're in for?" Ada asked, pulling on her gloves –thin, dark red leather that protected her hands from unnecessary scrapes and bruises. "Reckon they're in trouble?"

"Why would they be in trouble?" Wash replied.

Ada stopped, giving him an exasperated glance. "At what point has anyone been called into the Director's office for any other reason?"

Wash couldn't argue with that, so he shrugged and kept walking.

They parted ways as they entered the gym, and Ada jogged over to Geo. Geo was doing his _katas_, but paused when Ada approached him. He wore a loose orange t-shirt over the standard-issue fatigues.

"Good morning," Geo greeted, before spinning around and bringing a knife-hand down to collarbone height.

"Hey, Geo," Ada greeted. "It's afternoon –late afternoon."

Geo glanced at the clock, and nodded. "So it is," he agreed. "I thought you had a session scheduled."

"Cancelled," she told him, as he turned towards her and punched, fist stopping inches from her head.

When Geo finished his _kata_, Ada took her place next to him.

"May I?" she asked.

"Always," he replied. "Basics or something more advanced?"

"Basics, if you don't mind," Ada said. "I'm feeling a little… tired."

Geo nodded, and they began, doing a basic _kata_ together. The routine hailed from kyokushin karate, and the slow, smooth movements helped calm her down. Ada loved her _katas_ –she'd never had the patience for them as a child, but over the years they'd grown on her.

Doing the _kata _with Geo helped her pace herself, forced her to slow down so she didn't hit him. It was too easy to forget all her concerns about Project Freelancer in the flow –make them seem trivial.

Turn, block, step, punch. Turn 90 degrees; take three steps –each punctuated by a blow to her head-height.

They finished the _kata _and smiled –quick congratulations for a perfect routine. It was just a basic _kata_, but, as her brother put it: _the best lose sight of the basics… and that's when they fuck up._

Next they did what Ada referred to as choreographed sparring; Ada would move forward, striking while Geo backed away, blocking and countering. When they got too close to a wall, Ada would back away, and they'd switch roles. Unlike the _kata,_ this exercise let her mind wander.

Neither Ada nor Wash had heard of York and Carolina's meeting with the Director, so she assumed no one had. After all, it only immediately affected their training. The meeting could have been a spur-of-the-moment deal on the Director's part, but Ada thought this unlikely, as the Director didn't strike her as a 'spur-of-the-moment' kind of guy.

So –he wanted it kept quiet?

Geo made her pay for her distraction –she saw his punch coming way too late, and his fist connected solidly with her chest. She staggered back a step, knowing that in an actual fight she'd be on the floor. Ada heard some snickering from nearby, and she turned to see Michigan smirking by the weights.

Ada took an angry step towards him, about to call out a challenge. A steadying hand on her arm stopped her, and she turned back to Geo.

"You are distracted," Geo said, half a statement and half an accusation, as was his way. He let go of her arm.

"Don't worry about it," Ada shrugged. "Just thinking."

"About?" Geo pushed gently.

"Just –nothing. I'm tired, that's all," Ada dodged, not wanting to be labelled as paranoid.

"Why was your match cancelled?" Geo asked, not-so-subtly trying a different tactic.

"York and Carolina had a meeting with the Director," she admitted.

"Probably Texas, too," Geo added. "No one's seen her all day."

Ada nodded, and when it was clear she wasn't going to say anything, Geo continued, "Do you know why they called the meeting?"

"No," Ada said. "FILSS wouldn't tell me."

"And you are… concerned?" Geo deducted.

"Not really," Ada replied, in complete honesty. The other two –probably three –could handle themselves. "Curious, is more like it."

"I am certain you will find out eventually," Geo offered.

Ada laughed. "But I wanna know now!" she mock-whined, in her best impression of a two-year-old.

"I do not think that's possible," Geo smiled.

At 4:30pm, they decided they'd had enough training for now, and made a beeline for the cafeteria, Ada gulping down a bottle of water along the way.

When they arrived, they grabbed the first plates they saw and sat down at their usual tables, where Kenni, Massa and Illinois already sat, fully-armoured.

They greeted each other happily, and naturally Illinois couldn't help but make a crack at Ada's height as she sat next to the armoured Massa and Kenni.

"Sorry, kid," he said, grinning. "You just look tinier than normal."

Ada stuck her tongue out at him, eating her salad. To fill in time, they made snide comments on each other's appearance –Massa's dark brown and pale green armour being a highlight, as the colours looked strange in the fluorescent lighting. Anyone watching would've been shocked at how the friends treated each other, but the conversation was nothing new to them.

"So, how'd your match with Carolina go?" Kenni asked. Massa and Illinois stopped eating and stared expectantly.

"It didn't," Ada replied. "Cancelled. Annulled. Negated."

"Maybe Lina's just too embarrassed about being bumped down one," Kenni winked.

"Meeting with the Director," Ada corrected. "We think all the top three are," she added, nodding towards Geo as she said that.

"Stupid board, no one below three gets told anything," Illinois grumbled good-naturedly.

"Where are you guys, anyway?" Ada asked, not having checked the 49-long list in a while.

"Ninth," Geo said.

"Tenth," Massa said.

"Eleventh," Illinois said.

"Fifteenth," Kenni sighed.

"Hey, top half still," Ada offered.

"Yeah, I know," Kenni said. "Can't believe Michigan's higher than me."

"Wait," Ada said, noticing two conspicuously empty spaces. "South and CT got kicked down? I thought they were still top ten."

"Not anymore," Massa said. "South's thirteenth, CT's fourteenth."

"Why?" Geo asked. "I do not recall them doing anything to get nudged."

"Guess they must've lost a few too many matches," Kenni shrugged.

Illinois scratched his chin with a red-clad hand. "Maybe they pissed off the Director?"

The others shrugged and kept eating, and by the time they bothered to leave the cafeteria it was already edging on five. Three of them ran to change out of their armour, and left Geo and Ada to return to the gym, continuing their sparring.


	9. Chapter 9

Ada awoke to a voice that was getting old –FILSS's, bright and peppy as always. Ada was seriously considering the pros and cons of shooting the AI's speakers with the Magnum on her desk, but ultimately decided against it and attributed the urge to being especially grumpy this morning.

"Good morning, Agent Nevada," FILSS chirped. "The Director wishes to see you."

'_Wishes'? Ha. More like 'demands'._

Ada was awake enough not to mention those thoughts out loud.

"Thanks, FILSS,' she replied instead, trying for a tone as happy as the AI's, but coming off as sarcastic and strained. A quick glance at the clock revealed the time to be 0600 –not an uncommon sight for Ada, but one she preferred to see by will.

Ada hopped out of her bed, heading towards the cabinet that contained her armour, but was stopped by FILSS's interruption.

"Armour is not required."

"Right," Ada said, turning towards her closet. The closet was bigger than it needed to be, and Ada found her uniform easily. As Ada dressed (more than slightly creeped out by FILSS's 'presence') the AI continued talking.

"Today, you will take part in the Project's next stage," she said.

"Next stage?" Ada asked, yawning.

"Correct."

"What's that?"

FILSS paused. "You shall find out when you get to the briefing."

Ada suppressed an irritated sigh, but at least the conversation had woken her up a bit.

She left her room, and headed towards the caf to get a breakfast-to-go.

"Agent Nevada, please head directly to the bridge. You do not wish to be late," FILSS lectured.

"So, I only got five minutes' notice?" Ada asked. "That's –really not that surprising, when I think about it."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing, FILSS. I'm just talking to myself."

"That is the first sign of an unstable mind –"

"If I answered myself, it would be. Everyone talks to themselves," Ada pointed out.

Ada was a bit surprised by the silence that followed –in a person, her comment might warrant a sigh or a snide comment. With FILSS, however, her comment ended the discussion entirely.

When she arrived outside the bridge, she found two more people there –one of which she did not expect to see.

"Maine?"

"Nice to see you, too, kid," Wash grumbled cheerfully, smiling like an idiot. Ada attributed that to the fact that his best friend was alive and kicking.

"Yeah, hi, Wash," Ada said, purposely dismissive. His scowl brought out a laugh in the younger agent.

"How are you?" she asked, turning her attention back to Maine.

He gave her a _you're kidding, right?_ look that reminded her of the medic's words.

"Shit, right, sorry –" Ada stopped herself. On examination of Maine's throat, the scars were large and an angry red, and Ada was certain she could see the tell-tale glint of bionic parts.

Maine let out a halting growl that could've been a chuckle, and Wash shook his head.

"I guess we find out what happened to York, Tex and Carolina today," Ada commented.

"I guess so," Wash agreed. In response to the questioning look Maine gave them, the two explained all that had happened while he was in the infirmary. When they'd finished their tale, the door to the bridge finally slid open.

"Sir!" the three Freelancers said (well, two Freelancers; Maine just growled to that effect), surprised into the reaction that had been trained into them as they saw the Director standing right inside.

"Today you will be participating in the next stage of the Project," the Director drawled, repeating FILSS's words and skipping any greetings.

The three exchanged questioning glances before quickly returning their collective gaze to the Director.

"The next stage is to pair adept soldiers with aggressive artificial intelligence," he continued. "The idea is that the AIs will assist soldiers and keep them updated on the battlefield. The process is painless. It only requires a small upgrade to your standard UNSC neural implant –the AI's source chip will remain in your helmet."

_Well. That explains the mystery of the helmet-slot,_ Ada thought.

"With the exception of you, Nevada," the Director said.

"Sir?"

"You will take part in a slightly different experiment –the AI's source chip will be implanted into your body," the Counsellor said, stepping in.

Ada had no idea about the medical mumbo jumbo that came with the implantation –she just knew that having a computer shoved inside her brain didn't sound like fun. She strived to keep a neutral expression, but from the looks of the men on either side of her, she wasn't doing very well.

"The implantation's side effects involve dizziness, nausea and possible loss of consciousness –but they last for a very short time," the Counsellor assured them.

"The infirmary is already set up for your arrival. Any questions?" the Director seemed impatient.

"Sir?" That was Wash.

"Yes, Washington?" the Director snapped.

"Uh, what about, um, rampancy?" Wash said the last word with uncertainty, like he wasn't entirely sure it was the right one. Ada knew 'rampancy' was the AI version of dementia, and found it a very understandable thing to worry about.

"These AIs will not be subject to rampancy, as they are not smart AIs," the Counsellor guaranteed.

"Are there any _more_ questions?" the Director drawled, clearly impatient now.

When there were none, the Freelancers were led to the infirmary (Ada swore she heard Maine grumble a bit) and separated. There were four doctors working on Ada –more than the others, who only had two.

Ada was asked to take strip, and one particularly considerate doctor closed the curtains around her, giving Ada a comforting smile. The same doctor took Ada's uniform and folded it, placing it on a nearby gurney.

In no time, Ada was lying, face-down, on the operating table (there was a little hole for her face, so she was staring at the ground). The doctors administered local anaesthetic (which stung like a bitch before going numb) and one of them spoke.

"Now, ma'am, this process now is only the upgrade to your neural implant –you'll be put under for the actual implantation," he explained.

While he worked, Ada worried. This whole AI implantation thing was decidedly experimental –of course, she'd known Project Freelancer was an experiment, but she hadn't imagined something like this. What was even worse was that she had what seemed like a far more dangerous procedure to deal with.

Ada decided not to focus on potential damage that could happen to her –she wouldn't know where to start, and it was out of her control. Backing out didn't even cross her mind; she wasn't even sure she was allowed to.

Instead she focused on the most trivial thing her mind could bring up: would she like her AI?

If it (he? she?) was anything like FILSS, unlikely. The overly peppy voice got on her nerves, and she couldn't imagine having to listen to that 24/7. FILSS was alright in small doses, but not long term.

_If not like FILSS, then what?_

A wave of vertigo hit her as the doctors finished the upgrade.

Any more thought was interrupted by a sharp jab in her arm, and her darkening vision.


	10. Chapter 10

There were a few things Ada noticed upon waking up. The first thing was pain –primarily in her head right between her eyes, but also at the nape of her neck, and the knuckles of her right hand felt bruised. The second was that the room she was in refused to steady or focus. The last thing was the strange impression in her mind; a constant, tugging sensation that felt almost palpable, but was frustratingly vague.

Eventually, the fuzziness of her surroundings faded, while the pain and tugging remained. Ada sort of recognised the room she was in. It was in the medical wing, and it was a recovery room, to keep an eye on patients after an operation. There were four beds, three of which were occupied. Someone had dressed her in a thin white singlet and shorts. An angel of a person had left a glass of water next to her bed.

Cautiously, Ada sat up, wincing as nausea rolled through her. The pain in her head increased tenfold, and her equilibrium was shot. When the world steadied itself, though, she had achieved her goal –she was sitting up, with the water in easy reach. She grabbed it and drank graciously.

A rasping growl made her jump, nearly spilling the glass.

"Morning," a bright, chirpy voice called.

Ada looked at the bed opposite her, to see an unarmoured Maine and a small, glowing purple person next to him. The purple person was stemming from a small projector on Maine's helmet, which, along with the rest of his armour, was on a table next to him. In the bed next to Maine's, Wash was unconscious.

"Well," the voice continued. It was male, though slightly high-pitched. The glow's mouth moved in time with it. "I say morning, but technically, it's afternoon. I'm Sigma, by the way. Hey, are you ok?"

The purple person –Sigma –cocked his head to the side and stared at Ada, who was slightly green.

"Peachy," Ada muttered, her voice coming out like razors. Another drink quelled her sore throat a little, but not enough.

"Sore throat is normal," Sigma said. "As are headaches, dizziness and nausea. Well, for you they are. Some of those symptoms are normal for a 'standard' implantation, but with you, there are added effects, and the usual effects are amplified… as was proven by your initial reaction to having an artificial intelligence in your mind."

Ada glanced at right hand. The knuckles were, indeed, badly bruised. Like she'd pulled a sloppy punch on someone. _Shit._ Ada's mind flew to the doctor who'd given her the reassuring smile, and felt sick for a very different reason.

"Who'd I hit?" she asked.

Maine growled something in response. Sigma answered, "When you first woke up from the implantation –while still in the operating room –your AI was operating at 100%. The shock of having a complete other mind in your head was too much, and you struck out at one of the medics. Gave him a nosebleed. Washington had a similar reaction when he tried putting on his helmet –however, he merely passed out."

Maine growled something else, which Sigma translated, "He says it was a bad punch."

"I think I was a bit distracted," Ada replied. "Don't even remember it."

"Normal," Sigma chirped.

Ada couldn't believe how long it had taken her to notice (especially since they'd been on the subject), but her AI hadn't spoken. Once.

"Where is… he?" Ada asked, hand unconsciously flying to the back of her head.

"Your AI is in your mind, but was ordered to run at minimal capacity until you felt ready to have him running at full power again," Sigma explained. Ada nodded, and her fingers finally rested at a small scar on the back of her neck. It was a little tender, but not half as bad as her head. "You can activate him whenever you're ready. I wonder who you got," Sigma continued in a distracted tone. "Based purely on the fact that you punched the first person you saw after the implantation, could be Omega, or possibly Mu –wait, Mu was already implanted into an agent."

"Yeah, cool," Ada mumbled. She was still processing the fact that she'd punched out a medic, and the whole 'activate him whenever you're ready'. The first because she couldn't believe she'd done that. The second because she felt ready –the headache had faded throughout the conversation, and the tiniest movements no longer caused her nausea –but had absolutely no idea how to go about 'activating' her AI.

Ada closed her eyes and leaned back against the pillows, breathing deeply.

"Is she asleep?" she heard Sigma ask. Maine growled something that Ada translated as 'hush'. Or maybe 'shut up'.

The tugging at the back of her mind had never stopped. Presumably, that was her AI, running at minimal capacity. She tried pinpointing it –tried to find the exact space in her mind it was occupying. But it was like trying to catch a memory, and it always eluded her. Ada quit trying to activate it like that pretty quickly. It was tiring.

_Hello? Hey?_ Ada tried, directing the thought to the AI. _Ok, now I feel stupid._

_Hi! _Came the unexpected reply. It spiked through her head, bringing back the headache, nausea and dizziness in full force. Distantly, she knew she was doubled over, and could hear Sigma speaking while Maine growled. _I mean, _it continued, _I am the artificial intelligence unit Kappa. How may I assist?_

A sob found its way out of her throat, and Ada clutched her head, as if she could rip the pain out. It was like being stabbed, this she could say with certainty. However, unlike last time, it was in her head rather than the small of her back. Ada tried focusing on each individual breath she took, and to some extent, the pain numbed. She stayed hunched over on the bed and eyes stinging with tears for what seemed like an eternity.

_Sorry, _her AI said, sounding honestly contrite –his (because it sounded like a he, maybe a young he, but not a girl) voice sounded more distant, though, and didn't send the same spike through her brain. _Perhaps running at 100% immediately isn't smart. Is 50% any better?_

_Yes,_ Ada thought back, checking to make sure it was true. Her head still stung, and she still felt like she might be sick, but it wasn't as bad. Her AI –Kappa –seemed happy with this.

_Good,_ he said. _I am sorry about last time –I did not realise what effect having an AI could have on a mind with no preparation. Although, the Counsellor did say that you would probably be best able to adapt. Something about your age, I think. On the bright side, I don't think you actually broke the medic's nose._

The more Kappa spoke, the more her head pounded. _Kappa? Could you please…?_ Please what? Please stop talking? He wasn't actually saying anything. _Please… be quieter?_

_Sure,_ Kappa said. He didn't add anything else, seeming to understand what she meant.

"Hey, are you ok?" Sigma asked. He was frowning at her, and Maine growled something that sounded similar to Sigma's question. "You've not moved for at least three minutes. Should I call a medic?"

Maine growled something, which Sigma translated: "Or will you just punch him in the face again?"

"Ha ha," Ada stated. "I managed to activate my AI."

"Who is it?"

"Kappa," Ada said. Speaking of which, he seemed to be…

_Um, Nevada?_

_Ada,_ she corrected immediately.

_I can't really run at 50% capacity forever and be useful, _Kappa said. _I was thinking I could slowly… _he picked up a phrase from her mind, _up the ante until I'm at 100%. With your permission, of course._

Kappa, she decided, was very young. Maybe not in intelligence, but he had the tone of a timid child. The 'with your permission' was not spoken condescendingly, as one might expect, but genuinely.

_That sounds great, Kappa,_ Ada sent back. _Try it. But, like you said, slowly._

_Yes, Ada, _Kappa replied happily.

"Nevada?"

She looked up to see both Sigma and Maine staring at her.

"Yes, sorry," she said. "Um, talking to Kappa."

"Kappa," Sigma repeated, his hologram grinning. "How is he?"

_Running at 52% and rising, _Kappa told her. _That means 'fine',_ he said, and she repeated it.

"Good," Sigma said. Then, still ostensibly to her, "Hi, Kappa!"

_Um…_

_Tell Sigma I said hi! _Kappa said.

"He says hi, too," Ada said, feeling like an idiot. Maine evidently thought she looked stupid as well, because he was smirking. "Sod off," she told him.

He growled something that she didn't need Sigma to understand –it certainly wasn't 'I respectfully acquiesce to your polite request'.

_Sigma's a friend of yours? _she asked Kappa.

_Yeah, he was nice to me after Omega and Gamma tried to hurt me._

_Omega and Gamma? Who–?_

"Nevada? Is it possible for Kappa to speak directly?" Sigma asked.

"I don't know." _Kappa?_

_I can connect to your armour from here, but it might be a little painful for you,_ Kappa warned. _I won't do it if you don't want me to._

_Try it,_ Ada decided. _I'll live._

_Are you sure? _Kappa asked.

_No._

_So, I won't do it?_

Ada sighed. Apparently her AI was unfamiliar with sarcasm. _Kappa? Do it before I manage to talk myself out of it._

_Alright…_

It was, indeed, a little painful for her. Not as bad as when Kappa first came online, but still enough to make her clutch her head and wince. It felt like something was pushing against her skull, but the feeling was gone quickly, replaced with a dull ache. She could still sense Kappa, and she knew that he could still 'talk' to her mentally. It was just that now, he could talk to everyone else as well.

Kappa had a hologram, just like Sigma did. It was silvery, though. And the form made the nausea come back full-on. Kappa's hologram was a man, mid-twenties, tall, scruffy hair and muscled. The structure of the face was remarkably similar to Ada's, and if the hologram had been coloured, his eyes would have been the same green as hers. Kappa's form was not original. It had been stolen from her –from her _brother_.

"Why," she began, voice forcibly calm, "did you choose _that _as your appearance?"

Kappa had been grinning like a child, a not-entirely-foreign expression on her brother's face. It made her all the more angry. Now that grin faltered.

"I… looked around your head, a little. Your memories. James –Jem –appeared in a lot of good ones, so I…" Kappa trailed off. Sigma and Maine stayed quiet, but Ada could feel their eyes on her –especially Maine, who knew enough about her that he recognised when she was angry, and when she was very angry.

"A lot of good ones," Ada repeated. Her voice cracked a little, and Kappa's hologram snapped off.

_I'm sorry,_ he told her.

The emotion-brain-searching thing was a two-way street. Ada could tell that Kappa truly was sorry… though he had no idea what he'd done wrong. Ada relaxed a little, relieved. If Kappa had done it on purpose, they wouldn't have a good run. She focused what was left of her anger on the fact that he'd seen a lot (though obviously not all) of her memories, some of which she preferred to keep private. Kenni knew most, naturally, and was in most as well (not Kenni, but Amy, the headstrong girl with the cocky smile) but that was different. She'd known Kenni from age three. Kappa was completely new.

_That's fine, Kappa. But we are going to have a little talk about you snooping around my brain. Ok?_ Ada said, feeling far too much like a lecturing parent for comfort.

_Ok, _Kappa said. Despite her warning, she knew he was searching for a certain memory –the one that had made her react to his hologram the way she did. He found it quickly, and she could feel him wince. Ada didn't blame him. The pool of blood had been way past the point which someone could lose and survive, and she hadn't been doing too well herself.

**A/N: This took ages to get out, and about three different attempts. And I'm still not entirely happy with it. But I don't think I'll be able to do much better, so yeah. Here it is. (Worst A/N ever. Of all time.)**

**Anyway, I'm interested in what fragment people think Kappa is, so if you wanna guess, go for it. **


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I should note that I'm not very confident in writing backstory, so any and all advice is much appreciated. Speaking of reviews, I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed the story or favourited/alerted. As you can probably tell, I had lots of fun writing Epsilon. But who doesn't?**

_Oh, _Kappa said. She didn't really blame him. To go from a presumably nice, cosy computer… or whatever, to the mind of a girl with at least one potentially traumatising memory couldn't be fun. Ada really hoped he couldn't actually feel the physical pain that the memory usually brought for her –getting stabbed was not an enjoyable experience, and the ghost pain was only a slight improvement.

Kappa was trying to process the information, less from a 'what happened' point of view than a 'why did it happen' perspective.

_It happens, Kappa,_ she told him. It was true: muggings and muggings-gone-wrong weren't unheard of. _The bastards knew we had money, so they tried to grab it. Jem fought back. He got stabbed, I got stabbed. He died, I got better._ Though with one hell of a scar to show for it. The guy who'd hurt her was unpractised, and either didn't put all his force into the hit (meaning he might've been too scared) or was just plain sloppy. Missed the spine by a mile, too.

_You froze._ Kappa's voice was not accusatory, more pondering.

Ada froze and couldn't fight back. And then Jem had died.

_Yeah. I froze._

_That was a normal reaction,_ Kappa assured her, picking up on her discomfort. _You were shocked. It couldn't happen again._

_Who says?_ she snapped. Ada could almost feel Kappa mentally flinch. _This happened less than two freakin' years ago. Not a whole lot of time for growing up._

_In the last nineteen months, you've joined the military, gone through basic with Am– Kentucky and did so well that you were both selected for a classified military project. You've been on dozens of missions, and are now one of the top ten of that project._ Then, almost smugly, _You didn't freeze through any of that._

Kappa was very good at digging up memories, calling her back to the day she'd joined the Project with Kenni, when the Director has said something quite similar:

"_Sir, if you do know about the… incident," the young private tentatively repeated the word the man had used, "then why exactly would you choose me?"_

_The man looked at her, as if bored. "Theresa –may I call you Theresa?" She preferred Terri, but nodded anyway. "Theresa, when someone has done that with those kinds of consequences, they tend not to repeat the same mistake. Your psych profile supports that. Now, do we have a deal or not?"_

Ada shook herself back into the present. "Fair point," she said out loud. "You make me sound like such a badass."

"Better?" Kappa asked, silvery hologram appearing once again. Rather than her brother and the shit _that_ dug up, he had chosen the form of a pre-teen boy, wearing jeans and a t-shirt. With his make-everything-better demeanour (not to mention his voice), that form suited him much better. It also looked vaguely familiar, meaning it was probably also taken from one memory or another.

"Much," she smiled. Maybe having another voice in her head wouldn't be so bad? So long as they got the privacy part down, Kappa seemed nice.

"What happened?" Sigma asked. "You just stared off into space for three minutes (and fifteen seconds). We thought you were fighting. Like, maybe some sort of 'get out of my head' fight like they have in movies, where Nevada uses her imagination to summon all sorts of crazy monsters and get superpowers and –"

Maine's growl interrupted him.

"Well… I did suggest it, but _you_ said 'maybe'," Sigma snapped. "…Or was that sarcasm?" Maine nodded. "Oh."

"Ah, don't worry, Sig. you'll get used to it," a new voice said. Next to Wash's helmet (which had been thrown haphazardly on the bedside table) stood a pint-sized soldier in Mark VI armour, coloured blue and, for whatever reason, holding a sniper rifle. "Surprised you haven't quite gotten it already. I mean, you have been stuck with Mu for weeks."

"Good to see you, too, Epsilon."

"See! You're getting better already! I'm so proud," Epsilon sneered. His 'head' turned towards Kappa, then Ada, then Maine. "Hey, guys… and girl. Nice to meet ya."

"…Hi?" Ada said. Maine growled.

"Hi, Ep!" Kappa greeted. "How are you?"

"Fine," Epsilon said. "Helmet's pretty roomy."

"Hey… Epsilon?" Ada asked. Epsilon turned his attention to her. "Uh, could you have appeared at any point in the last few minutes, or so?"

"Yeah. First I was processing some stuff, and then I figured you guys were more entertaining to watch. Except for when you two began acting like all soap opera-y," Epsilon continued, indicating Kappa and Ada. "That was boring. Although, the whole punching-out-the-medic thing redeems you a little."

Idly, Ada wondered if people would keep bringing that up.

_He's pleasant,_ Ada thought.

_Really? I didn't think you liked him._

_Kappa, I know I told you no more rooting through my brain… but if we're gonna work together, you need to understand sarcasm. Look around until you know the definition._

_Ok, _Kappa replied. And then, _Seriously, Epsilon's nice. He's just… not good with new people._

_Obviously._

"Hey, what's with my guy?" Epsilon asked.

"Maybe he's still recovering from having a part of another mind in his head," Sigma offered. "FILSS's tests did show you were one of the more complex structures. Actually, that was why he was ruled out for use in Nevada's procedure."

"Could be," Kappa agreed.

"Or maybe I just got stuck with the lazy Freelancer," Epsilon griped. "Great. I get stuck with the lazy one, Kappa gets the soap opera star –"

"Oi."

"–and Sigma gets the… it would be a pretty low blow to say 'mute' wouldn't it?"

Maine growled something that required no translation.

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Epsilon asked. Then, back on topic, "Yeah, I figured it would be. So I'm just going to say 'dumb muscle' and leave it at that."

Sigma instantly jumped to his host's defence, saying that, as with all Freelancers, Maine's intelligence was above average, thank you very much. Epsilon made a snarky reply, and Kappa softly told him that Sigma had a point. Epsilon turned on Kappa, being a little nicer than he was to Sigma, but not much. Sigma told Epsilon to stop picking on Kappa, and Epsilon immediately turned back to him, complaining that he was being ganged-up on.

Maine and Ada glanced at each other, agreeing to sit this one out. She had no desire to be on the receiving end of Sigma's more… creative insults, and Kappa was getting a little practise in sarcasm.

**A/N: So, there's Ada's backstory, which is actually one up on half of the things I've imagined for some of the other Freelancers… which I may or may not get around to writing about. Anyway, my summer break's over in about a week, and I'm not sure how that'll effect updates. Probably not much. Honestly, I think I might post more often because there's not a whole lot of 'inspiration' around when you're stuck in your house.**


End file.
